So, um… I just called one of our major grocery chains and suggested they put those bulk taggies around the produce to make the self checkout easier for produce…
They said “hey, that’s a good idea!”
Do I get a medal or something? Broccoli?
Sigh. All that this thread tells me is that the golden age of the self-check machine seems to be ending. See, there was this brief and wonderful time when they were new that they actually wound up being faster for the early adopter.
I can not tell you the number of times that I would just sail through with like half a dozen self-check machines open while the huddled masses waited at one of the 2 open checkout lanes because I was not intimidated by the GUI and can read menus on a screen (I would guess that the ATM once enjoyed a similar golden-age).
But no more! The bleating sheep-like mouth-breathers have discovered them. In short, the party is over.
The escalator has been around for 145 years, and there are still people in the US who haven’t seen one? My god, tell them they need to move into the 19th century already.
In the town where I went to high school (pop ~30,000) there were no escalators within probably 100 miles. The only building in town that had an elevator was the hospital, which ran to the dizzying height of a second floor. And this was in 1991, in the United States. Rural America is really, really rural.
mischievous
Yea, I think you’re right. I used to enjoy snickering at the person with two things in their cart standing in a line of ten people cause “I pay for the cashier, dammit, I don’t check things myself. Would you let McDonald’s hand you a spatula and make you make your own burger?!” while I checked out. But, alas, the morons have figured it out, and now they’re worse than the regular lines, cause you have 4 times the Moron Concentration and they’re trying to operate complicated equipment like a scanner.
Okay, when I first moved to Toronto and went to the Big Fancy Grocery store (coming from a city of about 250,000, so it’s not like I’m a small town gal), I was amazed at the wonder of the escalator ramp that would magnetically hold on to your shopping cart! :eek: Yes, that’s right, grocery shopping was on the second floor! You could take your cart up and down on this fancy, schmancy escalator ramp! :eek:
Well, I’ll admit being impressed by a magnetic ramp the first time I saw one at a newly-opened Loblaws here in Montreal (the chain didn’t open outlets here until the late nineties) but frankly, you sound like a bit of a rube, Agent Starling.
So far, I’ve only been to one store that has a U-Scan, a large supermarket. I use it for smaller purchases, except when the clerk lines are especially short.
Proud-to-not-be-Amercian here 
…and OMG do I dread the moment these self-scan things emerge here. Trust me, I bet I’ll beat any of your stories about the dumbness of the general populace. Unless the stores have any sense and never introduce the things…we can only hope.
Too true. Before I moved to Texas, I used the U-Scan at Fred Meyer, sweet little things worked perfectly (unless one of the morons as described in the OP were attempting to use them) every time.
Then I move to Texas, and attempt to use the ones at Walmart, and I encounter this thing called “unexpected item in holding area”. And with the walmart self scanners, you CAN actually move items from the holding area if it gets too full (and no, I wasn’t buying a BUNCH of stuff, I was within the proper amount of items, the holding areas are about a quarter the size of the U-Scans at Fred Meyer, where I previously shopped, and I just happened to have one item that was just large enough to overcrowd the holding area once I’d scanned a few items).
The problem is, that only the damn MACHINE knows the magic point at which its decided that the item has been there long enough, and will allow you to remove your item without numerous error messages.
I don’t have a degree, but I have many years of experience with 'puters, inclluding repair and networking, I think those machines like to mock us just on principle. The POS machines too.
I mean it’s simple right? Slide the card, enter your number, but NOOOO, the machine says to itself (HA, she knows AutoCAD, let’s get her :D)
I went back home to visit my mom, and decided to pick up some food so I could make dinner. I went to a grocery store that was built pretty recently, and saw, in the produce area, a scale that you put your produce on, punched in the number that corresponded with that particular veggie, and it spit out a sticker with the weight, price and barcode. Very handy, although I did hear one man saying that he refused to use them, because that’s what the cashier gets paid to do. All it means to me is an extra minute in the produce department, and no waiting around at the checkout lane for the cashier to determine exactly what kind of lettuce/apples/whatever I bought.
This is me. Unless I’m in a huge hurry (which is almost always my own fault, which helps me temper my, uh, temper), it’s kind of fun to watch somebody staring at the produce grid for minutes on end while the weight of the canteloupe in his hand gradually causes his arm to tremble ever more violently in fatigue.
But:
This is also me. My neighborhood has lots of older folks and blue-collar families (though it’s changing somewhat), and the local stores with u-check lanes tend to be frequented by seniors and technophobic parents. So four times out of five, there’s at least one scanning station available.
And I’m going to indulge in some rare bragging: I’m good at this. I’ve done it a few times and have learned what the machine expects, and when it expects it. If I’m buying multiples of something, I can hold one of them in one hand and repeatedly scan it while simultaneously moving the remaining items from the cart to the weight platform to keep the computer happy. When I’m paying, I’m multi-tasking, going back and forth between the card reader, which isn’t tied directly to the scanning station except at the point when the scanning station expects to hear back from it about the money. So you can run both tasks in parallel and hit OK on the card reader right after you tell the scanning station how you’re paying.
I love these things, though I must confess I feel a little guilty for taking away somebody’s job, or at least job security. But the speed and convenience they represent is a step forward in the free market, which is something I believe in, so I’ve gotten over it, and I enjoy my scanning time. At least, I will until the retirees die off and the Moron Brigade clogs up the self-scan lines the way you guys say they eventually will. Until then, I’m a happy camper.
I’m good at it too. I’m so good that I know the little computerized script by heart.
“Welcome to Pathmark. Please scan your Pathmark Advantage Card or scan your first item.”
Honestly, this was half my reason at first. King Soopers took care of that, though, they simply stopped opening the express lanes. I won’t stand behind ten people with overflowing carts, so I started to use them.
The other reason, and this applies to library and other self-serves too, is that I’m not really a very social person - pretty much a loner - but like any other human I do have some need for some social interaction. The idle chit-chat with the cashier or the librarian could often fill my social needs for days! Now whenever I want some sociality, I have to go and pretend I’m going to buy a new car.
“Welcome, Pathmark Advantage Club Card Member, please scan your first item and place it in the bag.”
“Please press Credit on the card reader, slide your card through, and follow the instructions.”
“Thank you for shopping at Pathmark!”
Such a pleasant lady, though it’s kind of sad that I have a better rapport with the recorded voice than the human cashiers.
You’re not that good at it if you’ve let the script get that far enough times before scanning your card/first item that you’ve memorized it!
I’m still working on improving my speed, but this is how my self-check usually goes:
:: Touch screen to begin shopping ::
“Welco …”
:: scan vip shopper card ::
“Welcome Fry’s VI…”
:: scan first item ::
“Please tou …”
:: Touch item to the yellow strip (what is that thing anyway?) and place in bag ::
Repeat until done.
I think the only complete line I let the thing get out is “Thank you for shopping at Fry’s; please remove your receipt and take your bags.”
Hey, you forgot the all important “Do You Have Any Coupons?”
and the incessant nagging “Please Place The Item in the Bag” if you’re a bit too slow…
Just for the record, the best self scan machines I’ve seen are at Stop and Shop. Instead of a strip, scale or bags, you place your scanned item on a belt that goes past a sensor to a holding area. I’ve had very few items get returned to me for re-scanning.
I think they should use celebrity voices to tell you what to do.
[Gene Wilder] “Put. the. item. back!”
I’ve sort of become the U-scan tutor. I help people who are having trouble.
Ok, only if there isn’t an available machine and I want them out of there…
The other day I taught my mom how to use the self-serve ticket booth at the movie theater.
The only thing abou those I can’t understand is how come the tickets come down a little chute with no basket to hold them. Unless you’re ready for it, they go flying on the floor.
Yes, it was a Loblaws here too. As I’d been lving in a city that tended to build out not up I had never had the occasion to be in a two storey grocery store. Most in town looked more like big box stores, taking up huge amounts of space AND they were out of the way. Without a car I had to rely on the dinky, little peice-o’-shit grocery store near my house.
Moving to Toronto where real estate is a bigger deal… the two storey Loblaws with the ramp makes total sense. But the whole thing… Luxury! Fresh seafood, a wine store underneath, a garden centre. The ramp was just the icing cake that said “Crayons, you’re shopping with the cool kids now!”
Mind you, I’m also the one who is forever playing with my cart to see if I can still push it on the ramp.
I went to the supermarket a few days ago and, wandering around in a daze, bought heaps of stuff. In the same mindless state I went to the “12 items or less” queue and started chucking all the goodies on the counter. I couldn’t figure out why the queue next to me was so long, or why they all had dirty looks for me. When we got the the end of my purchases I realised my error and began apologising profusely to the guy on the checkout. He put me at ease by saying “That’s OK, who cares?”